Dili is bustling with preparations for the celebration of East Timor's
independence, but those who might imagine that it is going to be a grand
ceremony would be way off mark.

Budgetary constraints have seemingly driven the new Timor Lorosae
administration to err on the side of prudence.

The poverty-stricken embryonic state has access to only about US$440
million, from international donors, over the next three years.

With the exception of the Mercado Lama (old market), which has been
rejuvenated after it was destroyed by pro-Indonesia militias in 1999, and
an ongoing documentary film festival, Dili doesn't look like a city set
for an international celebration.

The whitewashed ex-Portuguese building of the United Nations
Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) has now become the center of power
of the new administration, but it remains as it was, plain and simple.

Two rows of flags from 92 countries, which will be represented at
Sunday's celebration, flutter outside the building.

Lecidere Square, opposite Bishop Belo's official residence, has also
turned into an exhibition complex.

Interestingly, Taci Tolo, where three lakes are located next to each
other at Dili beach, has been chosen as the site of the celebration.

"It is facing the sea, so you get a cool breeze in the evening; it
is also a vast area that can accommodate thousands of people, including
international heads of state and dignitaries," East Timor
representative in Jakarta Jovencio Martins told The Jakarta Post.

Although that is good enough reason alone, Taci Tolo also has a
historical significance. It is part of the site at which the Indonesian
army first landed when Indonesia invaded East Timor on Dec. 7, 1975. It is
also the place at which rebellious youths demonstrated for the first time.

"Many witnesses recall the angry face of (then Indonesian Armed
Forces commander) Benny Moerdani watching the protesting youths, who
demanded a referendum when they welcomed the pope in October 1989.

"All that happened at Taci Tolo, and no one in Dili will ever
forget that," foreign affairs official Jose Amorim Dias said.

The papal visit was, at that time, very controversial, as Jakarta had
only reluctantly allowed it to take place and the demonstration signaled a
resurgence of East Timorese resistance. Just over two years later, youth
protesters were shot dead when they publicly demanded independence at
Santa Cruz cemetery on Nov. 11, 1991.

In addition, human rights activists here pointed out that many
undercover proindependence activists were thrown from helicopters at Taci
Tolo or murdered elsewhere and their bodies left to rot at the bottom of
the three lakes.

So the celebration of independence day at Taci Tolo appears to convey
tacitly the message that not only will East Timor greatly respect its
freedom fighters, but also that the new nation-state is reminding its
neighbors and the world that it will never again allow itself to become
the victim of aggression.

Indeed, the ceremony and celebration will end with the inauguration of
Taci Tolo, referred to in the official UNTAET agenda as "The Garden
of Heroes".

The ceremony will start at 9 p.m. on Sunday (7 p.m. Western Indonesia
Time) with a public mass followed by a welcoming address and speech by UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He will symbolically transfer sovereignty to
Parliament Speaker Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres as the UN flag is
lowered.

The climax of the ceremony will be at midnight on Sunday, 20 May, when
the speaker of the ceremony will read the declaration of independence and
the flag of the Democratic Republic of Timor Lorosae (RDTL) will be
raised.

The speaker will then take the oath of president-elect Xanana Gusmao as
the new President of East Timor. The ceremony will end with the
inauguration of the Garden of Heroes, the raising of a giant Timor Lorosae
flag and a firework display.

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